Hainanese Spatchcock Chicken

Preheat your oven to 200°C and prepare a skillet that will fit your whole chicken snug, with a piece of parchment paper.

Slice your shallots in half and place them into the skillet then season with oil and salt.

In a small bowl combine all the chicken marinade ingredients and set aside.

Grab a bowl that fits your chicken, and boil water to pour all over the chicken, tightening the skin and helping it later crisp.

If Spatchcock is not appealing, just remove the chicken butt and chicken fat to use for the rice. On a chopping board, grab a pair of sharp scissors or a really sharp knife and cut down the spine along the fat lines, removing the whole spine. Then remove the wishbone. Now face the chicken breast up and place both hands on top and gently press down until the chicken lays flat. Remove the chicken butt with any excess chicken fat at the base of the chicken, set aside all these extra bits in a bowl

Place the chicken in the skillet with the shallots and brush the whole chicken in all the marinade. Tuck the spine back under the chicken, optionally leave to marinade for 30 mins or just roast straight away for 45 mins or until charred and golden.

Wash your rice in a sieve under the sink and set aside to drain.

In a medium-sized pot on medium-low heat, add the chicken fat and chicken butt, allow to caramelise for 10 mins or until golden with a generous amount of chicken fat.

In the meantime prepare the aromatics for the rice, smash 3 pieces of garlic cloves, slice 3 pieces of ginger 1 cm thick and slice the roots of the spring onions, make sure to give them a quick rinse to remove any dirt, set this aside.

In another small bowl for your chicken gravy, finely slice all the spring onion whites, mince a whole knob of ginger with a microplane or fine side of a grater, add 1 tbsp of sesame oil, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp salt and set aside.

Slice all the remaining spring onion green tops vertically to roughly create long strips and add to a bowl of ice water, this will make them curly and beautiful.

When the chicken fat is ready, remove the chicken fat bits, add in smashed garlic and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant, then add all the rice and coat the grains in chicken fat until glossy.

Add 625ml of water to the rice and use your hands to massage the sliced ginger and spring onion roots to release its aroma then add into rice, with 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of salt. Bring the rice to a boil, reduce to the lowest heat, add a lid and set a timer for 20 mins. Do not open the lid for at least 10 mins, to ensure fluffy and fully absorbed rice and keep it closed until serving.

Remove the chicken and shallots from your baking dish and set aside in a bowl to catch resting juices.

Toss all the minced ginger and spring onion into the gravy and stir well, alternatively you can pour the gravy into the bowl of minced spring onion and ginger if you want to serve the sauce separately.

Drain the water from the spring onion tops which should be lovely and curly, season with sesame oil and salt create a bed of curly fresh spring onions on your serving platter/skillet.

Carve the chicken or serve it whole, but don’t waste any resting juices and pour it all back in the spring onion ginger gravy. Spoon some gravy on the chicken skin for glossiness then drizzle over chilli oil.

Remove the shallots from their skins and place all over the chicken.

Fluff the rice and remove any bits of spring onion and ginger, keeping the soft garlic cloves.

Serve the rice by scooping it into rice bowls and flipping it out onto individual plates, this is fun to do at the table.

Serve with gochujang, chilli oil, fresh limes and tuck in, making sure to scoop the gravy onto your glossy rice.